The Most Dangerous Game
by kazekuro
Summary: Kenzie worked hard so she could finally live a semi-ordinary boring life, just like everyone else. But fate had other plans for her. Will she continue trying to run away or will she give in to fate and her dream of a normal life?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note. I'm merely borrowing the characters for a bit. The plot and OCs belong to me. **

**Summary: Kenzie worked hard so she could finally live a semi-ordinary boring life, just like everyone else. But fate had other plans for her. Will she continue trying to run away or will she give in to fate and her dream of a normal life?**

**Prologue**

Doki-Doki

My heart started to race, which was odd as I was only riding the elevator up to our current room slash headquarters, something I had done so many times before, sans the wild beating heart. As I contemplated this I felt a familiar coldness sweep over my body, along with the light-headedness I usually felt right before I fainted. Not a good feeling, I hated it when I fainted, made me feel like a fragile little girl, which I wasn't, seriously.

I felt each heart beat echo through my body, painfully aware that it was quickly slowing down. Was a heart supposed to slow down this fast after it suddenly started to race? I didn't think so, so that could only mean- shit! This was not supposed to happen. Why? Hadn't I stayed under the radar? I thought I had. He never should have suspected me of being any kind of threat to him, but evidently he did. I could feel the proof with each agonizing throb of my heart.

This couldn't be the end for me could it? No. I had just come to terms with myself. Finally understood how I was able to believe in this so easily. Had just accepted my fate and was even a little excited about it. Fate wouldn't do this to me now, would it? After all this time of trying to get me to go along with it only to let me die when I finally agree didn't make sense. But then we were dealing with the Death Note. Maybe not even fate could win against such an opponent? If it couldn't, then what had it expected me to do?

Regret. The word couldn't possibly describe how I was feeling right now. So many things left undone, unsaid. So much time wasted because of my stubbornness. They say hindsight is twenty-twenty but its more than that. I knew everything, yet did nothing. How could I have just sat back and watched this play out without doing anything to stop it? What kind of person am I?

When would I learn? Though it was too late to ask that, too late to learn anything for that matter. By the time I reached the correct floor I was gasping for breath. I needed to hold on just a little longer, I couldn't die just yet. I wanted to see him one last time. Taking shallow breaths seemed to help a little, but it was only a matter of time.

I was only able to take two staggering steps out of the elevator before I collapsed.


	2. Game On

**Chapter 1 Game On**

I jolted upright gasping for breath; an annoying buzzing sound resonated in my head. Quickly I lurched to my nightstand smacking the snooze on my alarm clock and fell back into bed. I could feel my body coated in sticky sweat, my heart racing a mile a minute almost threw me into a panic.

"Just a dream, only a dream." I tried to reassure myself. But what a dream, it had felt so real. Even now I felt that any second my heart would start to feel like it was being squeezed again. In the dream it made perfect sense as to why I was feeling that way but now that I was awake it didn't make sense. The scene itself was blurry, the more I thought about it the more it faded away. The only things I could recall were riding in an elevator to see someone when suddenly I started to have a heart attack. Though why I was so sure it was a heart attack was another mystery entirely. Dreams were sometimes symbolic to life events and such but this one felt as though it had actually occurred, or would occur? Something was nagging me about the entire thing, giving me a strange feeling that I was being warned.

"Yo, Kenz?" The cheerful voice was accompanied with a loud knock on my door. "You had better not have fallen back to sleep. Remember you promised your mom you'd show for your brothers race."

"That's today!" I jumped out of bed, well I tried to, my comforter had other plans. I ended up in a heap, legs tangled in the infernal blanket. "Meh."

"You okay?" My door cracked open as my roommate cautiously stuck his head in.

"Fine though I think my blanket is out to get me."

"Good, well hurry up if you want to make it in time."

I cringed, really how could someone be that cheerful this early in the morning? It should be illegal. Carefully I untangled my legs and moved the bathroom, slumping haggardly against the sink. I looked like crap, my long brown hair was a rat's nest of frizz and I had bags starting to form under my eyes, again, due to lack of sleep. I seriously hate college.

Sometimes I wondered why I suffered through it, all I had gained so far was an insufficient amount of sleep. It was so hard to get the full ten hours my body required to function right. No lie, I didn't feel rested unless I got at least ten hours, though twelve would be more preferable. But between keeping my grades up so I could run cross country, which I needed to excel at to keep my scholarship, and my part-time job so that I could have at least some spending money.

Now I know what your thinking, no way could I be sharing an apartment with a guy, especially off campus and be on a college sport team. True, they generally frown upon living off campus when you're on the team, but there are exceptions through special circumstances that I'd rather forget. The one good thing that came out of it was that I got to live with my best friend, who yes happened to be a guy. We were just friends though and it would never be anything more than that. Why? I'm sure you could guess why, he's gay.

"Kenz, stop spacing and get ready." Dan's voice came from the kitchen area along with the smell of fresh coffee.

I cracked a smile. He knew me too well, but he was right I needed to get ready. After washing my face I fought to get my hair untangle, the longest part of my routine, putting it in a quick braid that hung over my left shoulder. As I brushed my teeth I went to my closet to pull out some cloths. A pair of khaki's and an old cross country shirt from high school. Fitting, I was after all going to watch my brother run in his last high school race. It was hard to imagine that come next year he would be going to college and I would be entering my final year of it. High school all over again, though it remained to be seen which college he would go to.

Rushing into the kitchen I wobbled getting into my silver and yellow evo barefoot shoes, my favorite pair, as Dan laugh at me. Ignoring him I grabbed a banana for the road and took my thermos from him in exchange for a hug.

"Thank you so much!"

"No prob, girlfriend. Be careful, send me a text when you get there."

"Yes, mom." And with that I was out the door.

**XXX**

I raced through the woods, dodging trees effortlessly as I made my way to the next turn in the course. Funny how I used to hate running and now I'm on a college team for it and couldn't imagine not running. My dad had convinced me to try it out. My parents had been so happy when my brother had decided to take up the sport mostly because all he ever wanted to do was play video games and be anit-social.

He was still anti-social, hardly spoke to anyone, I guess they thought it would help him come out of his shell if you will if I was there with him. Maybe I could have tried harder to get him more involved with the team but I hadn't seen the need to. He had friends, not many but the ones he did have were pretty awesome, loyal. That was hard to come by in high school where everyone was petty and two-faced just trying to fit in. His group wasn't exactly the 'in' crowd but worked for him.

Waiting at the turn I plotted my course to my next destination. Cross-country was fun for both runner and audience member. The audience had to be interactive if they wanted to see more than the start and finish as the courses were a little over three miles and most tracks eventually had some wood time. Running through the woods was my favorite part of any course. There was something just so freeing in running in them, especially with my barefoot shoes, maybe it was my heritage showing through. I don't really know much about my heritage as my mother didn't seem to care all that much about it but made me feel apart of nature when I was deep in the forest.

I cheered the runners as they went passed, not all of them were from my high school. It was an unspoken rule that you encouraged any runner that went by, of course you were louder for your guys, but it was considered kosher to cheer for everyone. I mean come on these runners were running as hard as they could trying to run three miles as fast as they could, that deserves some praise. I knew exactly what it took in order to be able to run like that because its what I did myself.

After my brother went by I waited for a lull so I could cross the course without getting in anyone's way. Today was a good day; my brother was doing very well. I had worried about him there for a while. He was prone to allegories and this year was no different. He had also gotten pretty sick during the middle of the season, which had caused him to fall behind. It seemed that once he came back and saw how poorly he was running that he had just given up. I was proud to see that he had managed to get back into shape and run in this race. He still wasn't at his peak but to be able to run in this race was something to be happy about. If he could keep his pace up he'd have a chance to run again in college. So while he might not reach the goal he set for himself this year there was always next year, or so I hoped, for his sake.

So lost in thought I hadn't notice that my scenery had changed until I went plowing right into some unsuspecting bystander knocking us both to the ground. "Ah!" blinking a couple of times I looked down at my hands, for some reason they felt raw and my butt was more bruised than I thought it should be for landing on dirt. That's when I notice the black pebbles in my hand that looked eerily like asphalt, weird. That's when I noticed the ground was not brown it was black.

Just like that I suddenly became aware of the sounds of a bustling city that surrounded me. No longer was I in a serene forest but in a big city and if the asphalt, cars streaking by, and tons of foreign looking people milling about weren't clue enough that something odd was going on the guy I'd run into was a dead give away. To say he was a tad upset would be putting things mildly. He was pissed would be more accurate. So pissed in fact that he was yelling at me in a foreign language!

Toto I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.


	3. Name of the Game

**Chapter 2 Name of the Game**

This was crazy, it had been two days since I found myself here. Two days! At first I thought I might be sleeping, maybe when I ran into that guy it was actually someone from the race and I had managed to fall back and hit my head. But two days? And why would I dream of being in a foreign country? At least if it was a dream I would be able to understand the language right? I mean anything is possible in a dream, though by now I was seriously having doubts about it being a dream. I could be in a coma…no I didn't want to think that. There was no way I could have hit my head that hard. But the only other option was to believe that I somehow managed to get from the forest of Arizona to, dare I say it, Tokyo, Japan.

I knew it was Japan because my guilty pleasure was anime/manga so I could understand a few words and phrases as long as they were said slowly. It was also rather obvious this was Tokyo, can't mistake the world's busiest intersection. Plus there was Tokyo tower was kind of a give away. But knowing where I was really didn't help me much. I had tried talking to people; it was hit or miss trying to find someone who could speak English. Not only speak it but also speak so that I could understand it. It reminded me of an anime I had seen recently. In it one of the characters started talking in English and another character was fascinated by how well he spoke it and with hardly any accent. The chick must have been on something because if it hadn't been in subtitles I wouldn't have understood it and English is my first language!

Back to the dilemma at hand, I was trying hard not to freak out. Not because I was lost in a foreign country with no money and no way to communicate properly, oh no that would be too simple. I was close to having a mental breakdown because of one word that I was hearing over and over lately. A word even I could understand and I really didn't want to because I knew that if I really were in Japan that the citizens would not have been saying this word. I just hoped it didn't mean what I thought it meant.

"I am Lind L. Taylor…"

Seriously? I looked to the big screen TVs; you knew you were in Tokyo when there was a TV overlooking every few blocks. I just had to think that didn't I? I gulped. Okay lets think about this for a second. Yes I enjoyed reading fan-fiction about an original character somehow ending up in the thick of the anime/manga. But that was fiction, didn't mean I actually wanted to end up there myself. I had enough problems in my life to add this to the mix. Though I still hadn't given up hope that I was trapped in a coma.

You know that reminds me, I'm sure I saw some TV program were a character was in a coma. They had ended up being trapped in their own mind without really realizing it and in order to get out they had to…do something. For some reason I wanted to say solve the maze, but that was probably wishful thinking on my part. I liked puzzles and if all I had to do was solve the maze of my mind then I'd be out of here in no time. I cringed, that sounded slightly insane.

If I look at it like that maybe if I follow along with the story I'll be able to get out of here after its over. I just hope that when I do get out of here its not to find myself back home years into the future. Because if this was Death Note and if time here coincides with the time back home it would be years before this story ends and I am able to go home. Would it be worth it by that point?

Eventually I would wonder how I could so easily believe that I was stuck in a manga. Right now I was so far in denial it wasn't hard to talk myself into believing such half-baked arguments. The truth was something I had long denied after all. I had closed my eyes to possibilities so long ago it felt like it was all just a dream and maybe it was.

None of that was important though. What was important was to find the people involved in the Kira case, because one most of them knew English and two as long as I continued to believe my less then stellar theories it was most likely my only chance to get home.

XXX

It took me days to find the police agency, NPA; I hate to admit I totally forgot what it stood for. This wasn't looking to good for me. Don't get me wrong I love Death Note, seen the anime multiple times, read the manga, saw all the live-action films and as a bonus read Death Note: Another Note. Heck I even owned the entire manga collection including the bonus volume How to Read. But that didn't mean I remembered exactly what happened and I certainly don't remember the days they happened. I know I know that makes me a horrid fan girl.

I'm hoping the details will come back to me as the story progresses. What was the point of being here if I didn't know what was going to happen? There's also the question of what media this story would follow. They all travel along the same lines but there are some big differences between the manga and the anime. I was betting that the story I was in would follow one of these; my money was on the manga. It did come first and anyway the manga is always better than the anime. Though I greatly enjoy watching the manga come to life as an anime. I just hoped that if it came down to it I wouldn't get them mixed up.

As I staked out the police department I tried to think up a plan. In the days it had taken me to find this place I hadn't thought of anything. I had been too worried about finding the place to wonder about what happened afterwards. Honestly I still wasn't sure this was the right one I wanted, if I couldn't speak the language you can be certain I can't read it.

What I needed was a way to confirm this was the correct building. It was like a light bulb went off. Watari! I knew that Watari drove L around in a Bentley. Such a foreign car would stand out; I just hoped that he drove it when he went out and not just when he played chauffeur.

I made a lap around the building with no luck. Thinking that he wouldn't want to park such a noticeable vehicle somewhere too close but not too far that he had to walk far. He is an old man after all surely he couldn't walk long distances, right? So I started walking around the block slowly widening my circle with each new lap. Nothing.

Frustrated by my fruitless search I stomped over to the side entrance of the department. Five freaking blocks, I walked a five-block radius around the building and have nothing to show for it, some great detective I am. My gut told me this was the right place, but then again that could also be hunger. I hadn't eaten a proper meal since I got here.

Sighing I slid down the wall, I'd give it a day or two before I looked for another building. I really wish I had found the Bentley, having confirmation that this was the right building would have made things a lot simpler. Then all I would have to worry about was deciding whether or not I wanted to go to Light or L. I guess that choice still remains but first I'd need to be at the right place and see either Yagami-san or Watari leaving.

Watari leaving…. I smacked myself on the forehead. I'm a total and complete moron; I can't believe I didn't think about that. When L finally reveals himself to the remaining Task Force its New Years, which judging by the festivities going on I'd say it was fairly close to that time of year. That wasn't the important thing though, it was kind of but not in itself. No, the most crucial information from that was the fact that during that timeframe he was staying in a hotel not ten minutes from the station. If he was staying that close to police headquarters Watari wouldn't drive there, there wouldn't be a need to. The Bentley was too flashy to take out for a short walk.

I perked up a little at the thought I was pretty sure I passed by a hotel when I was making my rounds. This was good how many police stations had hotels that close to them in Tokyo? This is the city though so it might not be so far-fetched. But I didn't want to think that, I wanted this one to be it. Didn't want to contemplate that I'd have to start all over if it was wrong.

Lost in thought I almost didn't notice the man who was walking away from me. But something made me look up and I had to grin. It couldn't have been anyone else. That disguise belonged to Watari, who else would come out of the side of a police station with a long overcoat and hat pulled down to cover his face. Not to mention the fact that he was carrying a laptop case.

Quickly I jumped up and followed along behind him like a little lost puppy just begging to be taken home. In a way I was, I was cold, tired and hungry. So much had happened to me during the past week I didn't know what to believe. But I knew there was one person in this world I could believe and that's exactly where I was headed.

"Um excuse me, could I have a word with you in private?" I asked almost shyly, tugging on Watari's sleeve. He looked down at me puzzled or at least I'm sure he had a puzzled look on his face but I couldn't be entirely sure with the way he had his face covered.

"Do I know you miss?" I let out a relieved sigh; there for a moment I thought he was going to pretend not to understand me. He probably noted my disheveled appearance and felt sorry for me. Any other time I might have been irritated by this but right now I was happy that he was listening to me.

"No but I know you." I said, I didn't want to say too much with the possibility of someone overhearing. Hopefully I hadn't been too cryptic or at least sounded suspicious enough to warrant further investigation.

"Right this way, miss." a true English gentleman, I have to say I was impressed.

I had thought he would take me to a café or a restaurant, what I hadn't expected was for him to take me to the hotel. The same hotel I was sure L was staying at. If I thought about it though L usually had tons of security cameras all around the outside as well as inside the hotel so chances were high that he noticed me snooping around looking for something. Though how Watari would know that I was the snooper was beyond me. Had I really be that suspicious looking when I was searching for the car? Or was I just so pathetic looking right now that Watari hadn't had a second thought about bringing me home. Maybe I really was a lost puppy.

All thoughts ceased when I caught the tantalizing smell of dessert. My stomach growled as I ran into the room and dropped Indian style on the floor in front of the 'buffet' table. I caught movement from the corner of my eye, but was to engrossed with stuffing my face to acknowledge him at the moment. There would be time for that later.

Smiling I fell back so I was halfway sprawled out on the carpet. Simply put I was exhausted, after almost a week of being too afraid to sleep I finally felt I could sink into oblivion and not worry about not waking up again. With my belly full, mind at ease I felt myself start to drift off.

"Thank you, Whammy." I whispered softly, "we'll talk later I promise."


End file.
